This week of writing flash fiction reminded me of a point I wanted to write about a long time ago. Sometimes, the best way to write an essay is to tell a story. An essay is an argument. It is the author making a point, which usually exists as a counter to an opposite belief.
The problem with essays is that the only voice in it is the one author. While this can be fine for exposition, it actually makes point-and-counterpoint less effective. To have the singular voice taking both sides of an argument, debating itself, and expending so many words to try to explain it and switch sides back and forth, it muddies the actual points trying to be made.
Instead, have a Socratic dialogue. Create a small group of characters. Give each one a name and a personality. Make them embody the kind of person who would take a particular side in an issue. Then, put them all in a room together and let them have at it.
The reader will always understand who is saying what, and which words support which argument, not only from context clues, but simply by knowing which character is talking. Nobody has to mention what people with a point opposite of their own might claim, because such a person is in the speaker's midst and will freely make that claim.
Stories can be brilliantly elegant in describing an argument, pursuing different avenues, and really analyzing arguments one at a time, until both sides can be in agreement or at an impasse (the latter being far more likely, these days).
Of course, stories can also muddy up an essay, too. For example, this one you're reading right now. If I were to make this be a story and have characters talking, it would either be a monologue, or it would waste a lot of words to just reach the point that I've made in these six short paragraphs. Know which method will tell your point best. And if you don't know, experiment until you find out.
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